The Green Leap Forward 绿跃进

Introducing BEN and BEER:

The Beijing Energy Network (BEN or 北京能源网络) is a grassroots organization based in Beijing with a mission of promoting networking and collaboration in understanding and tackling China’s energy and environmental challenges among individuals and organizations from diverse sectors such as government, finance, industry, media, advocacy, think tanks and academia.  BEN was founded by The Green Leap Forward in collaboration with Brendan Acord, Matt Durnin and Jason Lee.

The flagship activity of BEN is the Beijing Energy & Environment Roundtable (BEER or 北耳), a twice-monthly happy hour / speaker series.  A listing of our past and future events are below.  The BEER initiative was recently featured in a story by China Daily and subsequently introduced on this blog.

Join Us:

We invite you to join BEN and BEER.  To get event updates and participate in online discussions, sign up to our e-mailing list by clicking on the Google Groups link below and drop us a note telling us about your interests in energy and environmental issues in China:

[Note:  Based on experience, joining the BEN google group works best with a GMAIL account]

Beijing Energy Network 北京能源网络

Visit this group

Next Event:

Despite the contraction of the traditional media, several news organisations are expanding their coverage of environmental issues. But are they getting the message right and are they getting it across to the appropriate audience? Watts will kick off a discussion on these issues based on his experience in Copenhagen, book writing and working with The Guardian’s environment team.

**About the Speaker**

Jonathan Watts is Asia Environment Correspondent for The Guardian and a former president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China. His multimedia career includes seven years in Japan, five trips to North Korea, the 2004 tsunami, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and Beijing Olympics. He has worked for BBC, CNN, Mother Jones, Christian Science Monitor, South China Morning Post, Daily Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun. In his current post, he has covered the Copenhagen climate conference, renewable energy developments and more rubbish dumps than he cares to remember. For more information, see http://www.whenabillionchinesejump.com

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010, 8:00pm
The talk starts promptly at 8:45pm; arrive earlier for drinks and networking.

** Location (地点) **

Abella
No. 28 Dongzhimenwai Dajie (next door to Paddy O’Sheas)
北京市朝阳区朝阳区东直门外大街28号
Phone: 10-6416-7018
www.abellabj.com (note: see city weekend site for directions to new Dongzhimenwai location not listed on restaurant website)

** Homework (功课) **
Think about these questions and be prepared to offer suggestions on how the media can do a better job on environmental reporting:
- What stories would you like to read about that don’t get much coverage?
- What tone do you appreciate most?
- How can media outlets get the public more involved in the debate?

Past Events:

2010

July 15: An Evening with ChinaFAQs, with Jennifer Morgan, Christina Deconcini and Paul Joffe of ChinaFAQs.

May 5: “关于在中国和 美国部署CCS的社会政治背景 (The Socio-Political Context for Deploying CCS in China and the U.S.)” by Dr. Elizabeth Wilson, University of Minnesota

April 21: “碳在中国的未来 (The Future of Carbon in China)” by John Romankiewicz, New Energy Finance, providing an overview on the demand projection for offsets from Chinese emissions reduction projects and look at the current outlook for CDM and disucssing  the potential of domestic markets for credits (carbon and otherwise) based on China’s NAMA action.  Presentation slides here.

April 7: “Clean Energy Innovation in China:  A Foreign Business Perspective,” with Mark Pinto, CTO of Applied Materials; Michael Christiansen, President of Novazymes China; and River Lu, China Relations Director of Duke Energy.

Mar 24: “Debate Night (争论夜晚2010)–Motion: Given its current state of development, China has taken sufficient steps to mitigate climate change” with Mark Levine, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs & Debbie Seligsohn, World Resources Insitute vs. Even Rogers Pay, Energy Foundation & Huang He, Sino-Danish Programme on Renewable Energy.

Mar 3: 城市交通及气候变化：世界银行在中国 (Urban Transport and Climate Change … The World Bank in China)” by Dr. Shomik Mehndiratta, Senior Transport Specialist, East Asia and Pacific Region
The World Bank.

Feb 3:” 政策包作为中国环境保护的解决方案 (Integrated Policy: An Approach to China’s Conservation Challenges)” by Doug Whitehead, Communications Officer, Global Environmental Institute.

Jan 20: “进度报告：评价中国的”十一五”节能减排成绩和机会 (Progress Report: Assessing China’s energy-saving and emissions-reduction accomplishments and opportunities during the 11th Five-Year Plan)” by Dr. Mark Levine, Senior Staff Scientist, Group Leader and Founder of China Energy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, United States.  Presentation slides here.

Jan 6: “地下解决方案：碳捕获储存与地热能的地质学解释以及在中国的发展潜力 (Underground Solutions: An explanation to the geology underlying both Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Geothermal Energy and China’s prospects for each)”, by Logan West, Logan West, Researcher, Tsinghua University-BP Center for Clean Energy Research and Education

2009

Dec 16: Video Night!  Over 20 short videos, a total 40 minutes show, on energy and environment crisis, clean technologies and solutions, and calls for action.

Nov 24: “中国在气候变化谈判中的立场与中国低碳发展道路 (China’s Position in Climate Change Negotiation and China’s Low Carbon Development Path),” by Dr. Yang Fuqiang, Director, Global Climate Change Solutions, WWF International.

Oct 28: “替代能源在中国农村的应用—现实中遇到的挑战与机遇 Alternative Energy in Rural China: On-the-Ground Look at Its Challenges and Opportunities”, by Michael Davidson, Fulbright Scholar, BP-Tsinghua Clean Energy Research & Education Centre. Michael Davidson recounts his renewable energy adventures in Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Yunnan and most recently, Gansu.

Oct 14: “如果你无法衡量它，你就不能管理它 (If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It: The Greenhouse Gas Protocol and its applications to corporations and supply chains in China)”, RP Song, World Resources Institute.

Sep 16: “减少煤炭污染–在中国 (Campaigning Against Coal in China)”, by Ailun Yang, Campaign Manager for Climate and Energy, Greenpeace China.

Sep 3: Christina Larson, Environmental Journalist

Aug 5: “”天津排放权交易所与中国未来的排放市场 (The Tianjin Climate Exchange and the Future of Emissions Markets in China)” by Jeff Huang, Vice President, Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and Assistant Chairman, Tianjin Climate Exchange.

July 22: “美国联邦政府的气候变化政策：历史，目前状况与将来的道路 (U.S. Federal Climate Policy: Where are we, how did we get here, and where are we going?)” by Josh Bushinsky, JD Candidate, University of Chicago School of Law.

July 8: “大脚’ 革命：可持续未来的城市规划与景观建筑 (The Big Foot Revolution: Urban Design and Landscape Architecture for a Sustainable Future)” by Dr. Yu Kongjian, professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Peking University.

June 17: “排放指标交易在中国：一种“跨越”的做法? (Emissions Trading in China: A ‘Leapfrog’ Approach?)” by Roger Raufer, Professional Engineer, Consultant, United Nations Division for Sustainable Development; Lecturer, Environmental Policy, University of Pennsylvania.  In his presentation, Roger proposes a very different type of emissions trading program for China that has component parts that address near-term public health concerns; non-compliance problems; and an emissions market structure, designed with China’s unique environmental needs in mind.  Such an approach would ‘leapfrog’ over existing systems used in the U.S. and Europe.  It would also lay the groundwork for the eventual pricing of CO2 and other greenhouse gases within the country.  Based on presenter’s article, abstract here.

June 3: “中国的危废去哪儿了? 一次基于流言的调查 (Where does China’s Toxic Waste Really go? Following the Rumors with an Investigative Reporter)” by 邹曦 (Zou Xi), 北京科技报记者 (Journalist, Beijing Science and Technology Report).  Zou Xi told the story of how she and her colleagues started an investigation following the trail of Beijing’s toxic waste, and what this trail has shown them about the state of environmental enforcement in China.  Based on this article by the presenter.

May 20: “Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Local and Regional Environmental Governance in China” by Scott Moore, Fulbright Scholar at Peking University.  A common refrain is that many of China’s environmental ills result from poor local enforcement and implementation of the country’s environmental regulations and policies. In his presentation Scott discussed at one attempt to strengthen central control of environmental enforcement, the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s Regional Supervision Centers (区域督查中心), and argued that China should give regional authorities more authority to make and implement policy, rather than less.

May 5: “避免高排社会：中国能否实现低二氧化碳排放的发展道路 (Averting Carbon Lock-in: Can China Still Undertake a Low Carbon Development Path?)” by Dr. Tao Wang, Core Research Fellow, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research; Research Fellow, Sussex Energy Group, SPRU, University of Sussex.  Dr. Wang discussed his research on accounting for emissions in China’s international trade, along with the promise of China undertaking a low carbon development strategy, including the findings of the just released Tyndall Center report “China’s Energy Transition: Pathways for Low Carbon Development” which was presented in Beijing during his trip.

Arpil 22:”见证谈判：一个观察员对气候变化谈判的看法 (At the Negotiating Table: An Observer’s View of the Global Climate Negotiations)” by Claire Stockwell
Gordon Global Fellow and International Climate Change Negotiation Observer, Treaty Law Consultant and Adviser to Greenpeace International.  Claire provided a short description of the history of the global climate negotiations, following the current round of talk’s progression from the beginnings in Montreal, through to the breakthrough in Bali last year. She then provided a re-cap of her recent trip to the Bonn round of talks, and some views of how the next eight months will play out looking ahead to Copenhagen.

April 8: “1.5亿多辆：控制中国汽车对环境影响的挑战 (150 Million and Counting: Challenges of Controlling the Environmental Impacts of China’s Motor Vehicles)” by David Vance Wagner, International Policy Adviser, Vehicle Emissions Control Center, Ministry of Environmental Protection, People’s Republic of China.  Presentation slides on David’s blog available here.

March 19: “”劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室中国能源部门：推进中美能源效率合作” (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s China Energy Group: Innovation
in US-China Cooperation on Energy Efficiency), by Lynn Price and Zhou Nan, both of LBNL.  See this post on a backgrounder on the Top-1000 program in which LBNL played a key role in creating.

March 4: “风冷却因素：讨论中国风电发展面对的挑战与机会 (Wind Chill Factors: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Wind Energy in China),” panel discussion by Andrew Hilton (Vestas - Director of Strategic Communications and Branding), Pan Weiping (Garrad Hassan - China Country Manager and Business Development), James Liang (AES Corporation - Wind Energy Business Development Manager)

Feb 17: “美国能源部在中国：一个充满着变化与希望的时代 (U.S. Department of Energy in China: A time of Transition and Hope)” by Dr. Marco Di Capua, Executive Director of the U.S. Department of Energy China Office, and U.S. Embassy in Beijing

Jan 21: “”中国的水资源：保障可持续发展的未来” “(China’s Water Resources: Ensuring a Sustainable Future) by Christine Boyle–”Understanding Northern China’s Water Crisis” (presentation materials available here) and Yusha Hu–”Water Quality and Urban Wastewater Management in China” (presentation materials available here).

Jan 14: “柿子检软的吃：提高中国终端用户的用电效率 (Picking The Low Hanging Fruit: Promoting End Use Energy Efficiency in China) by Dr. Li Yuqi, Director & Chief Engineer of the Demand Side Management (DSM) Technical Center, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Beijing.

2008

Dec 17: “中国的绿色建筑设计–发展整个系统的方法” (Green Building Design in China: Developing Whole Systems Approaches)” by Geoff Lewis, Fulbright Scholar at Tsinghua University and author of China Green Buildings blog.  Presentation slides available here.

Dec 10: “Solar’s Supply Chain Advantage” by Julian Wong and “China’s Solar Photovoltaic Policy and the Road Ahead” by Julia Wu, solar analyst at New Energy Finance.  Julian’s publication available here; Julia’s presentation slides available here.

Nov 19:  “China Carbon Perspectives” with Ian McInnes, Head of AED China Climate Solutions (speaking on Ventilation Air Methane) and Sustainable John Romankiewicz, analyst at New Carbon Finance (giving an overview of China’s carbon markets); “Building a Smart Grid” by ML Chan, Executive Director of JUCCCE Smart Grid Initiative.

Oct 29: “International Collaboration in Low Carbon Innovation” by Dr. David Tyfield, Lancaster University.  Full transcript available here.

Oct 22: “Debunking the Myths of China’s Coal Industry” by Julian Wong.  Background material available here.

Oct 9: “Rural Biogas Stoves” by Jimmy Tran, China Association for Rural Energy Industries (CAREI) and PhD candidate at University of California, Berkeley College of Natural Resources.